MOSCOW, May 25. /TASS/. The Russian Tennis Federation (RTF) has named the four players who will compete in women's singles at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio. They are Svetlana Kuznetsova, Maria Sharapova, Anastasia Pavliuchenkova, and Darya Kasatkina.
The regulations for the 2016 Games say the countries can enter four women players having the biggest points in international ratings. Upon the games that have been played at the French Open, this season's second tournament in the Grand Slam series, it is already clear that the aforementioned ladies will take the four allotted positions.
However, Maria Sharapova's participation is still an unsettled matter. She said at the beginning of March traces of Meldonium, a metabolic agent prohibited for athletes by the World Anti-Doping Agency as of January 1, 2016, had been detected in test sample taken from her during the Australian open tournament in January.
Sharapova was suspended from competitions as of March 12 and the International Tennis Federation has not considered her case yet.
The President of the Russian Tennis Federation, Shamil Tarpishchev told TASS earlier the issue of endorsing her participation in the Rio Games would be decided during the French Open. The FTR is expected to apply for her participation in the Games before June 6 and it is important to understand now if there will be an opportunity to put another player into the list of competitors if Sharapova is not permitted to perform at the Games.
If substitution is possible, then Sharapova will be replaced by Yekaterian Maksimova, No. 5 in the ratings among Russian women players.
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